Atta Girl, Izumi. Burn That Offline Collab with Your Own Two Hands

Was this something to be glad about?

When she asked whether a surprise offline collab with Aunt Sia would be all right, StarsFlow sent back word that they didn't mind.

Figures. StarsFlow had a reputation for letting its VTubers run fairly free.

"Hmm. Even so, we should still go in on the premise that this is our first meeting, right?"

"Th-that would be right, wouldn't it?"

From where I stood, honestly, it really did feel like today was the first time we'd met.

"And a lot of Koreans watch my streams. Will that be okay? The stream itself will be in Japanese, of course, but I drop into Korean quite a lot in the middle."

It wasn't hard to see what Aunt Sia was worried about. Among VTuber viewers, there were plenty of people who would dig however they could for anything on the Person Inside. The mere fact that I could speak Korean might be a sizable piece of information to them.

But.

"I-it should be f-fine, shouldn't it?"

I was sure it wouldn't turn into a real problem.

"It's already w-well known that Toka-sensei is a Korean illustrator.... If we frame it as me practicing Korean because I wanted to t-talk with Mama, I think everyone will actually be h-happy about it."

"Mm. Now that I hear it, that does sound right."

And anyway, I stuttered when I spoke, so to anyone listening it would only come across as me being a little clumsy with the language. Thinking back, when I first recovered the memories of my past life, my Korean had been so stiff that my whole way of talking turned painfully awkward. At first I wondered if my head was spinning because the memories were tangled together, but in hindsight it was only because my mouth was used to Japanese. My older sister kept speaking Korean even at home. I usually spoke Japanese there too. Only after Dad died did I start using Korean at home, following Mom and my sister, and the memories of my past life returned right around the time I was beginning to get used to it.

...Back then I despaired over it. Why on earth is my Korean this awkward?

Well, that was part of why I figured speaking Korean still wouldn't expose the fact that I was Korean-Japanese. Not that being Korean-Japanese was a crime. I simply didn't want to leak any more of Kayano Mina than I had to.

"Hmm. Then there shouldn't be any big problem. Shall we start in a little while?"

"Wh-whatever's comfortable for you, Auntie, o-ought to be fine...."

The time was 9:50 at night. I could hardly remember ever streaming at this hour, and a surprise collab on top of that. The Iztomo were going to be shocked out of their minds, weren't they? A thread of anxiety ran through me — and somewhere in my chest, I was looking forward to it.

"Yahoo! Hi, everyone! It's Yukino Toka, the manly illustrator VTuber!"

The stream opened on that bright, bouncing voice. Aunt Sia's avatar had long, straight navy hair and blue eyes that were cute enough on their own, but the real signature was the greatsword slung across her back. The greeting gave the reason away: she liked manly things. And yet, when she worked as an illustrator, cute girls always came first. A fan once asked about that contradiction, and she answered on Nater with That's that, and this is this! — posted alongside an illustration of a child hefting a greatsword, blades locked with a knight in full plate. Not an important story. Still.

"And just like the title says! Today is an offline collab! The partner is my very first daughter, Izumi! Everybody, applause!"

"Ko-Konzumi~. With StarsFlow. The a-atmosphere maker, Kaino Izumi...."

"It just sort of ended up this way! But thanks to that, everybody's happy, right? What about you, Izumi?"

"Uh, um.... I'll go with p-pretty good...."

"I did not!"

...About half of that felt true. Here, though, I would let it pass in silence. I am Kayano Mina. A shut-in who can read a room.

"It w-wasn't a rebellious phase in the first place...."

Not rebellion. I had been running because I was scared. At the start I had genuinely thought she was a yandere. Honestly, it was still awkward. Earlier, when she praised me over my Arcana Shooter stories, I'd been too excited to notice, but looking at her now, an incredible extrovert aura was pouring off Aunt Sia. If I weren't the owner of an Arcana Shooter: Purgatory clear record, I probably would have collapsed a long time ago.

"Ah, there's no set content today. It's just a chat stream. Like I said, this offline collab kind of just happened."

The truth was, when Aunt Sia first suggested we simply chat, I had objected. A chat stream, for an offline collab, with someone I had only just met. That was the same as saying she meant to kill me. Even with Miss Koga, whom I'd grown somewhat used to, I had barely chatted at all during our offline collab. Could it be that Auntie thought I was being insolent for ignoring her DMs all this time, and meant to scold me for it? I couldn't help the thought. When I confessed it outright, Aunt Sia only smiled, gentle as anything.

"I've already accomplished what I wanted from streaming, and this is a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hobby at most, so it's fine to take it easy."

Hearing that didn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mean I could actually relax. Even so, she had gone this far. I couldn't run.

Right. Then I would burn this stream down exactly the way Aunt Sia wanted...!

That thought had been blocked by the Miss Koga in my imagination, so I could rest easy!

"From the very start, I thought she was incredibly cute. Cute enough that, if I could, I'd want to take her home and raise her myself."

"...Hk!"

Aunt Sia said it and latched onto me. The distance vanished in a blink — that particular extrovert skinship — and I flinched, startled, but she paid me no mind and let her hands wander over my body.

"P-please, s-stop...."

"Look. Even just the reaction is cute, isn't it?"

"Eek!"

In the end, Aunt Sia only let me go after feeling me up for nearly ten minutes. I felt as if I had been turned completely into a doll....

"We kept it simple with sushi. It had been a while, so it was nice."

Well, Mom had eaten with us, so it hadn't been just the two of us. Obviously, neither I nor Aunt Sia put that fact in our mouths. And so Aunt Sia went on watching the chat and talking about this and that, until—

A Hyperchat in Korean arrived.

"Ah, thank you for the red Hyperchat, Eternal Flame! Well, to be precise, I came because of another appointment, but of course I also wanted to meet Izumi."

Aunt Sia answered in Korean without the slightest hesitation. The latter half, though, was addressed to me. Did that mean I had to answer too? While I was still turning it over, Auntie tapped my shoulder.

"And... does everyone know? Izumi can speak Korean, too."

"Yep! Even the way she talks is seriously cute! Izumi, would you read the latter part of this Hyperchat for us?"

"Ah, yes."

I cleared my throat a little and looked at the Hyperchat floating on the stream screen. At school, and on stream, I spoke Japanese, but with my family I used Korean. Speaking Korean itself wasn't much of a burden. And yet — why? The moment I tried to do it on stream, the nerves came rushing in.

"Uh, uhh.... I a-always enjoy M-Mei-chan's streams. P-please keep the f-fun streams c-coming.... Uh, um. I, I'll a-ask the same of you...."

"Look! Isn't she seriously cute?!"

"Mmph."

Aunt Sia burst into a delighted squeal and hugged me all over again. How to put it. It felt like watching a livelier version of my older sister.

"Haa. To think I'm the mama of a girl this cute. Aren't I truly blessed...?"

I tried putting a little strength into it. Auntie's body didn't so much as shift. Well, past experience had already taught me as much. Small to begin with, and doing no exercise beyond looking after myself, I had no way out once someone held me like this. Which meant all I had to do was quietly enjoy the situation. Naturally. Like a jellyfish swaying in the sea.

"Haaa...."

Pride, as a man? That sort of thing didn't particularly matter here. No — it was precisely because I still had a man's pride that I was enjoying this. Being held in the arms of a pretty, cute girl was a man's romance, wasn't it?

"Hehe...."

Something cool and clean rose from Aunt Sia's body. And whether she kept up her training, she was soft and yet firm. On top of that, her chest was much softer than I had expected....

"Ah, I held on too long. Sorry, Izumi."

"Ah...."

"Hm? Or would you rather stay like this a little longer?"

"Eep.... N-no."

Th-this can wait until next time....

I was absolutely not dodging because I felt burdened, or because I was scared. I was dodging because the male desire inside me might explode.... If that happened, it would be a broadcast accident.

You got lucky, Aunt Sia....